The writing of history requires three operations: (I) The collection of facts; (II) The classification and arrangement of facts; (III) The presentation and discussion of facts. I have collected the facts related in this book from every source open to me. These sources may be divided into two groups: (1) Published and (2) unpublished, matter. The published matter includes (a) official records; (b) books, and (c) magazine or other ephemeral articles. The unpublished matter includes (a) letters and (b) verbal communications.

I have made use of all these sources of information in gathering the facts. A list of some of the printed authorities consulted follows this preface. In addition thereto, I beg to acknowledge written communications from the following American Army officers, all now on the retired list except Colonels Godfrey and Brainard and Captain Livermore:—Lieutenant-General Nelson A. Miles; Major-General Robert P. Hughes; Brigadier-Generals Henry B. Carrington, George A. Forsyth, Louis H. Carpenter, Anson Mills, Charles A. Woodruff and Theo. F. Rodenbough; Colonel Edward E. S. Godfrey, commanding the Ninth Cavalry; Colonel David L. Brainard, Commissary of Subsistence; Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel M. Horton; Captains Henry R. Lemly, Francis M. Gibson, Nathan S. Jarvis, George E. Albee and R. L. Livermore, Tenth Cavalry; and the following civilians: President E. Benjamin Andrews; Doctors T. E. Oertel and D. D. Thompson; Messrs. W. Kent Thomas, Sigmund Schlesinger, Edward Esmonde, Phineas Towne, W. R. E. Collins, Hugh M. Johnson, Herbert Myrick, R. J. Smyth, William E. Morris, Nicholas E. Boyd, Theo. W. Goldin and Arthur Chapman; Mrs. Guy V. Henry and Mrs. James Powell.

In addition to these letters I have gathered much information in conversation with officers and others, not only recently but during many years spent in the West, where I was a frequent guest at army posts, in frontier towns, and at some of the Indian reservations. I knew many of the participants in the stirring incidents and heard the fascinating stories from their own lips.

The chapters of the Fort Phil Kearney series have been read and corrected as to matters of fact by General Carrington and Colonel Horton; those referring to the defense of Beecher’s Island, by General Forsyth; those describing the relief of Forsyth and the fight on the Beaver, by General Carpenter; those relating to the Little Big Horn campaign, by General Woodruff and Colonel Godfrey, and the account of the affair at Slim Buttes and the death of American Horse, by General Mills. All of these gentlemen gave me interesting details, anecdotes, etc., besides answering all my inquiries. Several of them put their private papers at my disposal. To Colonel Godfrey I am especially indebted for much interesting matter on the Little Big Horn campaign, and to Captain Gibson for the use of his unprinted account of the Battle of the Washita. The Office of the Secretary of War has been most kind in answering questions and furnishing information not otherwise procurable. Mr. W. H. Holmes, Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, has decided all questions as to the proper spelling of Indian names,^[1] and has given me the Indian equivalents of the names of prominent chiefs, as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, etc.

Several of the papers following are original contributions especially prepared for this book. The authors of these papers are indicated hereafter. For all expressions of opinion, for all comments, notes and inferences, not specifically attributed to somebody else, I alone am responsible.

To all who have aided me to make this series authoritative and definitive, my most grateful thanks are hereby heartily expressed.

I trust that in thus striving to preserve the records of those stirring times I have done history and posterity a service. The majority of those who fought on the plains have passed away. Many of the surviving participants in the adventures described are growing old. In a short time it would have been impossible to have secured the information here presented unless some one else had gone about it as I have.

With intervals devoted to other duties, I have been over a year and a half engaged in this congenial task. I have written literally hundreds of letters, to learn, or to verify, a fact, an incident, or a conclusion. It is interesting to call attention to the fact that information has been freely and generously given to me from every source whence I have asked it save three, one of which is noted in the appendix.

The series of historical books of which this forms the fourth seems to have won a permanent place for itself. The number of copies which found a welcome last year was greater than the number of the year before, although there was no new volume issued last fall to call renewed attention to the series. These books are generally spoken of by the title of the first published, “American Fights and Fighters.” It has been deemed proper, therefore, to adopt that name, which is sufficiently explicit and descriptive, as the generic name of the series. Hereafter all the books that have appeared, and those that are yet to appear in this series, will bear that general name, with the addition of a distinctive subtitle in each instance. The covers of the earlier books, accordingly, have been changed to read as follows:

• 1. American Fights and Fighters, Colonial.
• 2. American Fights and Fighters, Revolutionary—1812.
• 3. American Fights and Fighters, Border.

As I have stated, it is my hope to continue this series of books until I have covered all the wars that have been fought upon the American Continent since Columbus’s day.

So far as the American people are concerned—save in the case of the Mexican War—their struggles have generally been to establish a broader, nobler conception of human freedom. I would not have any one gather from this that our dealings with the Indian invariably have been characterized by that honesty and honor which should be at the base of every national undertaking—far from it! In this book, without growing sentimental, I have endeavored to be fair to the Indians; as in previous books, I have tried to deal justly by any and every enemy.^[2] To be honest and to be fair—these things are of prime importance in writing history and in living life.

I am now at work on two other volumes, a book on “South American Fights and Fighters” and a second volume of “Indian Fights and Fighters.” In this proposed Indian book I shall take up the further struggles of the United States with the Indians of the Northwest, notably Chief Joseph’s splendid migration with his Nez-PercÉs, the dash of the Cheyennes for freedom, Captain Jack and the Modoc War, the Ute War, the last outbreak of the Sioux, and various other affairs in the Northwest. Thereafter I contemplate a third book dealing with Arizona and the Apache.

I take this opportunity of asking every individual, soldier or civilian, who participated in any of these campaigns or battles, who has any material bearing upon them, and who is willing to allow me to look over it, kindly to send it to me in care of the publishers of this book, as soon as possible, as I expect to issue the next volume of the series next fall. Any such material will be carefully preserved and returned by express in good order, and due credit—also a copy of the book!—will be given for any which may be of use to me in the next book, as in this one.

It is getting late, as I said, to write the history of some of these things, and I am actuated by an earnest desire to preserve the records before it is too late. Who will help me? Since I began writing history I have learned to disregard no authority, however humble, and to neglect no source of information, however obscure it may appear to a casual inspection. Therefore send me what you have or can prepare, and allow me to judge of its value.

American people are usually more familiar with the story of other peoples than with their own history. How often have I heard the charge made that there is nothing romantic or interesting in American history. I do not see how any one could read even the chapter headings of a book like this and say a thing like that. Where are there more splendid stories of dauntless heroism, of subtle strategy, of brilliant tactics, of fierce fighting, than are contained in these pages? I may have told them indifferently and may be the subject of just criticism therefor, but the stories at least are there. They speak for themselves. I could not spoil them if I tried. The facts ring like a trumpet-call to American manhood, be it white, or red, or black.